SCREENING OF Serratia marcescens FOR PRODIGIOSIN PRODUCTION, OPTIMIZATION, AND BIOACTIVITY EVALUATION OF PRODUCED PRODIGIOSIN

Serratia marcescens belongs to Gram negative, straight rods, facultative anaerobic, motile bacteria of family enteriobacteriaceae. Serratia having ability to produce red to dark pink pigment prodigiosin (5(3-methoxy-5-pyrrol-2ylidene- pyrrol – 2ylidene) – methyl)- 2-methyl-3- pentyl-1H pyrrol) is a secondary metabolite with a unique tripyrrol chemical structure. Serratia marcescens was selected in this study for its high productivity of the Prodigiosin which was estimated 255.21 Unit/cell. The pigment has no defined role in physiology of producing organism but has reported to have antibacterial, antifungal, antimalarial, plasmid curing activities. The optimum condition for pigment production were determine and it was noticed that the powder of peanut seeds medium was the best medium which revels the higher production of Prodigiosin at 28oC and pH 7 for 72 h incubation. In this study Serratia marcescens was isolated from soil and wash basin samples and isolate found to produce notable quantity of Prodigiosin. The pigment was extracted using petroleum ether or ethanol and purified by thin layer chromatography. The inhibitory effect of Prodigiosin on Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria was studied